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March Issue 2007

Gallery C in Raleigh, NC, Offers Exhibit of Cartography

Jodocus Hondius

Gallery C in Raleigh, NC, is presenting an exhibition of rare antique maps and prints featuring European & American cartography of the Southeastern United States from the 17th to the 19th Century, on view through Mar. 27, 2007.          

This region of the North American Coast was well documented by mapmakers from as early as the 1500's. A long series of exploration and colonization efforts by the Europeans all shaped the Southeast into what we now know as Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Mapmakers of the early periods relied on everything from nautical charts to explorers' journals, to native American myths in order to piece together the geography. Information was scarce for regions on the maps without a lot of settlements but these cartographers were both scientists and artists. Unexplored geography was covered up on the maps with large and impressive cartouches; illustrations of exotic animals and people along with the names of the regions.
 
Johann Christoph Weigel

This exhibition includes one of the earliest maps of the Southeast (1606)  known as the Mercator-Hondius map of Virginae Item et Floridae by the renowned Dutch cartographer Jodocus Hondius. This map was used as a basis for a number of famous 17th Century Dutch maps including another piece in the show by Willem Blaeu (1640). Other notable pieces include a 1676 map of Carolina by John Speed and a pair of Celestial maps by Dopelmeyr (1742). Along with these maps are some fine rare prints from the same time period and maps and prints from the late 1800's around the time of the Civil War.
 
Although many of these maps were originally made to be tools of discovery, today we cannot help but admire them for both their artistic and historical value. What once was meant to be in an atlas on a desk is now best presented framed on the wall. Ancient maps and prints are one of the few places where history, geography, art and science all come together. Regardless of who you are, any one of these interests alone should be enough to bring you in to Gallery C to see this show.

For further information check our NC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 919/828-3165 or visit (www.galleryc.net).

 

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